What it means: The Yankees' offense continues to sputter. And Andy Pettitte wasn't as sharp as usual.

The result? An ugly loss in the opener of this four-game series.

The Yanks have now dropped seven of nine to fall to 39-33 -- third place in the American League East, 3½ behind the first-place Red Sox.

The Rays improved to 38-35 -- fourth place, five games back.

Early trouble: Pettitte worked around a leadoff double in the first inning but wasn't as fortunate in the second and third.

Wil Myers led off the second inning with a single, eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jose Lobaton. Pettitte had a wild pitch in the inning, which allowed Myers to advance from second base to third.

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Pettitte didn't allow a hit in the fourth or fifth but surrendered a leadoff home run to Longoria in the sixth.

More of the same: After garnering just three hits against the Dodgers in the nightcap of Wednesday's doubleheader, the Yankees had just six on Thursday against the Rays -- five singles (two infield) and a double.

Tampa Bay starter Matt Moore had a brilliant April and May but had lost his past three starts, getting shelled in the process. He got back on track against the Yankees, holding them to just two hits through the first five innings.

Trailing 4-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees put three runs on the board to get back in the game. But don't be fooled -- the Yanks had just one hit in the inning, a leadoff single by Reid Brignac. That was followed by back-to-back walks to Brett Gardner and Jayson Nix to load the bases with no one out.

Remarkably, the Yankees pushed three runs across without a single hit from there. Brignac scored on a wild pitch, Gardner scored on a sac fly and Nix scored on a groundout to shortstop. Not exactly impressive.

Finishing touches: Pettitte gave up one more run -- in the seventh -- courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Jennings and Rodriguez, before being sent to the showers.

What's next: The second game of this series, Friday at 7:05 p.m. David Phelps (4-4, 4.08 ERA) will start for the Yankees, opposed by Roberto Hernandez (4-7, 5.02 ERA) -- the artist formerly known as Fausto Carmona.

Kieran Darcy is an ESPNNewYork.com staff writer. He joined ESPN in August 2000 after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, where he played four years of JV basketball.
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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Wallace Matthews

Wallace Matthews has covered NY sports since 1983 as a reporter, columnist, radio host and TV commentator. He joins ESPNNewYork to cover the Yankees, which he's done since the days of Stump Merrill for Newsday, the New York Post, the New York Sun and ESPN New York 98.7 FM.

Andrew Marchand

Andrew Marchand is a senior writer for ESPNNewYork.com. He also regularly contributes to SportsCenter, Baseball Tonight, ESPNews, ESPN New York 98.7 FM and ESPN Radio. He joined ESPN in 2007 after nine years as a sports writer at the New York Post.